Word Sorts

Word sorts help students recognize the relationships among key terms. Students are asked to sort vocabulary terms into different categories. The strategy can be used in two way different ways.

l Closed sort
o The teacher provides the categories into which students are assigned the words.

l Open sort
o The students group words into categories and identify their own labels for each category.

Word sorts help students develop a deeper understanding of key concepts, and also are an excellent method of teaching the complex reasoning skills of classification and deduction.

Sort the following words into three categories:

bass pair walleye tallish wish
bear fish bear pear smallish